Manufacturer: | Apogee Components ![]() |
My order of a Centrix, 1/4A2-4, and 1/2A2-6, arrived in about 6 days in a box much small than I had expected, these are little dinks after all.
Centrix
The instructions are very similar to Estes', and the kit is very
straight-forward. I put rounded edges on the 3 nicely die-cut balsa fins,
filled w/fill n finish, and glued to the body tube with tacky glue. Next the
Kevlar® shock cord is tied to the thrust ring, which is glued inside the body.
In order to get the ring up inside the tube I used a 3/8" dowel. The nose
shock cord attachment is unique; a small bead being used to retain the Kevlar®
in the nose. Tying the plastic streamer to the shock cord finishes the
construction. I primed my Centrix (a good idea, the tube is slippery), and then
put on waaaayyyyyy to much purple paint. In the end it looks fairly nice, and
weighs in at a measly 5.9 grams (.2 oz).
Micro motors
It was cold and windy out so I only flew the 1/4A2. Ignition was a big pain (especially with my fingers freezing off). I had 2 misfires with one motor, then switched to another and got it going. The igniters are tricky. Care must be taken not to short it at all. I didn't have any problems with fusing like at NARAM, since I'm using the ultimate wimpy launch controller (I've got a battery upgrade coming). I fear that the first engine may have been chronically-unstartable. Once it goes his pyrogen is pretty hot, and the rocket popped of the pad. The Lots-A-Smoke delay lived up to its name with a billowing trail. The rocket coasted to what looked like 200 feet (hard to tell) and fell half way back down (delay seemed like 6 sec instead of 4). The ejection finally came with a loud POP! The rocket separated :( I think I used to little glue on the thrust ring. On recovery I found it stank *really* *bad* of S02, with what looked like sulfur residue on the nozzle and forward end of the motor.?
Overall? A very well put together product, the ignition needs to be fixed. I like the bead in the nose and smoke of the motors.
Relinquished by Scott Johnson @
Brief: My Centrix kit and two A2-7 motors arrived a few days before Christmas 1998. (Having spent my rocket budget on HPR, I had ordered the minimum needed to get this thing in the air.) As soon as I had the kit out of the box I knew it was something very, very cool. Centrix is the most basic kit for Apogee's 10.5mm micro-motors and is optimized for their characteristics. It is ...
![]() |
![]() |
Sponsored Ads
![]() |
![]() |